Rogers Eliminates GRRF for New Customers; New Fido Customers Now Billed by the Minute [Update]

Looks like Rogers and Fido have rolled out some new changes today. According to an internal doc received by MobileSyrup, the GRRF (also known as the Government Recovery Regulatory Fee) will be eliminated for new customers (existing customers will remain the same). The charge will now be bundled into monthly service fees instead, which some will see as $2 on their bill. The reason? Here’s how Rogers explains it:

“Although government costs still remain, including the government regulatory costs in the monthly service fee allows us to communicate pricing more effectively. It will be much easier for customers to understand.”

According to our source Mr. Ex, new Fido customers will now have their voice minutes billed by the minute. Existing customers are billed by the second, which has been a ‘perk’ of choosing Fido over Rogers. It appears services from both companies appear to be merging closer together.

Thoughts on these new changes?

Update 1: We reached out to Rogers and they provided us with the official word on these changes. Here’s what they have to say about the GRRF:

“We recognize that our customers want price plans that are simple and easy to understand. In an effort to deliver more simplicity and clarity in our invoices, customers will no longer see a separate line item on their invoice for the Government Regulatory Recovery Fee (GRRF). This change will only impact new activations and existing customers migrating to an in-market plan.”

On Fido’s new billing by the minute changes:

“On July 4th, Fido adopted the common billing practice in Canada: per-minute billing. This means that calls are rounded up to the nearest minute. This change will apply to new customers signing up with Fido. All customers who are on current plans with per second billing will retain this feature unless they change their monthly plan.

The majority of customers should not notice any impact to their monthly bills. Fido offers several great plans with various call, text and data allowances that are designed to meet any need.

Fido customers still get Talk & text plans from $20 a month, Talk & text CityFido plans, contemporary phones from $0 dollars with a Fido Agreement, the ability to check their minutes, text and data usage right their phone, at any time and free text notifications to help customers keep track of their minutes.”

Wtf Fido? Not cool. I’ve been praising Fido for being a good company that makes good decisions. This is not a good decision. Makes no difference to me, but for those on 100 minute plans, it can make a difference at the end of the month.

All this means is the next time I get a call from a Fido salesman trying to get me to sign another contract I’ve got a really good reason to end the call. Just because it’s a Canada-wide system doesn’t make it good; it’s part of the reason Fido stood out. This just means I’m on my current month-to-month for as long as I stay with Fido.

IIIII

Hmmm…didn’t they used to advertise 30% more talk time becaus of per second billing? Interesting that it doesn’t make a difference now.

K3

So is this a out of sight out of mind before the class action gains steam in the media? Throw a band aid on it before the launching time of the next big phone just to keep people from heading over to the competition?

JMCD23

Yep. If plans aren’t adjusted up 50% in minutes then this is a huge decrease in value.